Bulger Says He'll Play In Opener Against Seattle

[r8rh8rmike]

08.31.2009 5:07 pm
Bulger says he’ll play in opener against Seattle
By Jim Thomas
St. Louis Post-Dispatch


Although he’s expected to miss Thursday’s preseason finale with Kansas City, quarterback Marc Bulger said his broken pinky finger won’t keep him out of the regular-season opener Sept. 13 in Seattle.

So he can unequivocally say he will be playing against Seattle?

“Yes,” Bulger said Monday.

Although his finger isn’t totally healed, Bulger said, “If we had a (regular-season) game tomorrow, I could play.”

[Ramer]

Re: Bulger Says He'll Play In Opener Against Seattle

That makes me nervious, how good can you throw with a bad finger. I would rather him sit out another week and get to 100%.

[AvengerRam_old]

Re: Bulger Says He'll Play In Opener Against Seattle

Actually, if he's focused on his finger, it might actually be a positive distraction from other things (i.e. pass rush). The key is keep a balance between being careful and being too cautious.

[idrd]

Re: Bulger Says He'll Play In Opener Against Seattle

Bulger didn't throw to well even when he had good fingers. This guy is like an anchor around our necks. Pray he has a good season for the teams sake but will be glad to drive him to the airport after this season is over.

Throw any stat you want at me, the guy is burnt out and has lifeless emotionless disposition. I would keep him out of Seattle, Boller is not the savior we are looking for but at least if he plays then we will not have to watch Marc Bulger tuck the ball under his arm and fall 4 or 5 times.

I am sooooooooooooooooooo happy the press and the media are finally saying this is his make or break year, finally, its almost like Christmas knowing he will be gone next year.

For us to keep paying a 33 year old QB that cannot produce anymore, tons of money is stupid. Spags is not blind.

[Azul e Oro]

Re: Bulger Says He'll Play In Opener Against Seattle

That makes me nervious, how good can you throw with a bad finger. I would rather him sit out another week and get to 100%.

It makes me nervous as well but just because a player says he'll play doesn't mean it will happen, for one thing. I also hope that The Rams have learned from the Jackson thigh injury how counterproductive it is to rush back.

That said, I asked my sawbones the other day how long a broken pinkie finger would take to heal. IHO, since the bloodflow is not great-nothing but tendons,bone,and skin in there, it takes longer than one would expect.He said he'd had construction workers and pro golfers take up to 8 weeks before feeling 100%.

Pain is the major issue and scar tissue. Before the macho guys start rolling their eyes, my doc said it had less to do with the patient's threshold than the body autonomically compensating and throwing off the mechanics of movement which can stress the whole hand and arm & lead to other problems like tennis elbow.

The last point he made was that once the bone has set in a good position ,it is a good idea to try to regain natural movement as quickly as possible to avoid alignment problems so Bulger starting to throw now is probably a good idea.

I think the best protection for Bulger's digits would be for the O-line not to get pushed back so far that he has a chance of hitting them on a helmet.

Hey, a fan can dream,can't he?

[PeoriaRam]

Re: Bulger Says He'll Play In Opener Against Seattle

Bulger didn't throw to well even when he had good fingers. This guy is like an anchor around our necks. Pray he has a good season for the teams sake but will be glad to drive him to the airport after this season is over.

I'm sorry, he has the twelfth highest completion percentage in NFL history To claim that he never threw well is ludicrous to the point of inanity.

Throw any stat you want at me, the guy is burnt out and has lifeless emotionless disposition. I would keep him out of Seattle, Boller is not the savior we are looking for but at least if he plays then we will not have to watch Marc Bulger tuck the ball under his arm and fall 4 or 5 times.

Yeah...Boller having going through yet another bout of "broken IFF syndrome" is sooo much better. His career accuracy stats are about 60 places lower than Bulger and 6 percentage points. Look, for all we know, Thursday was the annual "Bizzaro Boller" night. Which means it could very well be all downhill from here.

I am sooooooooooooooooooo happy the press and the media are finally saying this is his make or break year, finally, its almost like Christmas knowing he will be gone next year.

For us to keep paying a 33 year old QB that cannot produce anymore, tons of money is stupid. Spags is not blind.

All so we can pay one of the holy trinity of college backs more to not produce in a system they were never trained for. Awesome. It's like watching a hamster run on his little wheel.

[r8rh8rmike]

Re: Bulger Says He'll Play In Opener Against Seattle

Here's more:

By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/01/2009

It's a foregone conclusion that quarterback Marc Bulger won't play in Thursday's preseason finale against Kansas City as he continues to mend from a broken little finger on his throwing hand.

But the regular-season opener Sept. 13 in Seattle is a different matter. When asked if he could say unequivocally that he'll play against the Seahawks, Bulger's reply Monday was a blunt "Yes."

He later added, "If we had a (regular-season) game tomorrow, I could play."

The fractured bone in Bulger's finger won't heal by the Seattle game, but that won't be an issue. If it's a matter of pain tolerance, Bulger said, "There's ways to get around that."

In other words, pain-killing medication.

"You don't want to do that too much," Bulger said. "(But) when the time comes, if there's still a pain issue, it won't be an issue."

Bulger broke the finger Aug. 17 taking a snap from center Jason Brown in practice.

"The first week, there was swelling," Bulger said. "I couldn't really bend my finger. But now, I can do everything. There's no pain unless, when I grip the ball and throw, there's a little bit. But it's improved a lot in the last 14 days."

Bulger threw from the side for the second day in a row Monday at Rams Park, increasing the number of throws and distance on those throws from Sunday's session. Quarterbacks coach Dick Curl and head athletic trainer Jim Anderson watched Bulger throw mostly tight spirals to equipment assistant Matt Taylor, who was about 15 yards away.

Later, Bulger threw short fade routes and out patterns to running backs Steven Jackson, Antonio Pittman and Chris Ogbonnaya. But that period consisted of only about a half-dozen throws, one of which was a wobbler.

Coach Steve Spagnuolo said Bulger threw 25 to 30 balls during practice. But Bulger still isn't taking any snaps under center.

"That's how we injured it, so I think we're just avoiding that exact movement for now, just to be extra safe," Bulger said. "We probably could take snaps now, but I think we're just erring on the cautious side with everything right now."

Bulger did take some shotgun snaps. And today, he may try to participate in practice drills with the rest of the offense.

"I'm kind of just going day to day right now," he said. "Every day, we're going to do a little more."

While the rest of the team receives a couple of days off following the Governor's Cup game against the Chiefs, Bulger plans to do additional throwing. He'll probably have more X-rays over the weekend as well. But since the bone wasn't displaced, just chipped, the X-rays are more for peace of mind. An X-ray taken about 10 days after the injury showed the "break's still there," Bulger said. But that was expected so soon after the injury.

On Sunday, Bulger threw with only the little finger taped. On Monday, his little finger and ring finger were taped together when he threw.

"Just to give it more support, because we (threw) a little bit further," Bulger said. "Probably again, it's just to be on the safe side. I threw with four fingers basically today."

When the Rams visit Seattle on Sept. 13, it will be nearly a month since Bulger's last game; he played three series in the preseason opener against the New York Jets, throwing four passes.

"That's a long stretch," Spagnuolo conceded. "I think you've always got to be concerned. But you are dealing with a guy that's played a lot of football. It'd be different if it was a first- or second-year guy. We'll just trust in his experience from the past."

Even if the finger heals to the point where it isn't a problem, there's always the risk that Bulger will be out of sync with the receiver corps after so much missed time. Spagnuolo thinks all the game-situation work the team does in practice has helped, and there will be more such work next week when Bulger is expected to return to full practice. But even Spagnuolo admits, "You lose a little bit there."

No matter what happens against Seattle, Bulger said there will be no excuses.

"I've been staying up with it mentally," he said. "I've even been doing more in meetings. (Strength coach) Rock (Gullickson) has my conditioning at a pretty good point now. You want to get as many reps as you can on the field, but I think I'll be ready."

Before the injury, Bulger estimated that he had taken part in 70 to 80 practices from the earliest spring minicamp through the first 2 1/2 weeks of training camp.

"So I feel like I'm as far as I can be along," Bulger said.